2009: The Year in Movies

My favorite movies that I watched in 2009 (some of them were released in the last couple of years).  Lots of genre films and lots of animation.

Coraline
Beautiful animation and strong characters.  Fun, creepy stuff.

District 9
Aliens, explosions and an interesting plot.  What’s not to love?

Doubt
Great acting and an intriguing storyline.  Ever since I saw The Big Lebowski, Philip Seymour Hoffman has been one of my favorite actors.  He stars again here.

Gran Torino
My favorite movie of the year.  I suspect I liked it a lot more than most people do.  But I’m a sucker for an angry old man redemption story.

Let the Right One In
12-year-old Swedish vampires are a LOT scarier and more memorable than their whining North American adolescent counterparts.

Moon
Slow-paced but thoughtful science fiction.

Up
Features one of the most moving and beautiful montage scenes in any film.

WALL·E
Another Pixar gem.  Amazing how they can do some much with so little dialogue.

Watchmen
Postmodern superheroes.  I really enjoyed the adaption and I think the movie’s ending makes more sense the graphic novel’s.

Zombieland
“Set aside the feverish homeless cannibal I’m living the dream.”
Runs out of steam towards the end and veers in ClicheLand, but before that, it’s a lot of fun.

I also really enjoyed The Informant, Mary and Max, Monsters vs Aliens and Sleep Dealer.  I enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire, but thought it could have been so much better. Ponyo was okay, but disappointing compared to Miyazaki’s other films.

I didn’t see any documentaries that grabbed me in 2009.  Encounters at the End of the World was all right (in his typically eccentric style Werner Herzog goes to Antarctica to try and answer the question of why chimps don’t ride goats), but not nearly as memorable as Grizzly Man.

Films I haven’t seen yet, but suspect I might like: Avatar, A Serious Man, Sherlock Holmes, Gomorrah, Red Cliff, Samson & Delilah, The Brothers Bloom, Up in the Air, The Men Who Stare At Goats.